By Morgan Willer
Hey everyone and welcome to Week 8. I can’t believe this term has flown by so fast! I’m here to talk to you all about one of my favorite parts of Oregon State, which is all the amazing lectures that are put on by our faculty and by visiting lecturers. To some of you it may seem a little strange to spend your night going to a lecture, mostly because you probably get enough of that in class. But hear me out! These lectures offered by the university are based on current research, are discussed by people who are passionate about their projects (which always makes it more interesting for the listener), and are a great way to keep up to date in your field. All schools within CLA contribute, and of course lectures happen outside of CLA as well. I encourage you to go to one or two that sound interesting (there are usually several a week), and at least give it a try. You will never again after graduation be surrounded by so much knowledge and opportunity so take advantage now! I will invite friends who share the same interests as me and we get coffee together before the event. Sometimes we even find ourselves taking notes. The point is we make it fun and often find ourselves talking about the event days after, because usually they are quite inspirational! For example my friend and I just saw the talk with John Hunter who shared information about his 4th grade class and a game designed to teach his students about world peace. We left inspired and excited that we had the chance to hear him share his story. Events are always posted on the CLA calendar online but I’ve compiled a list of the latest events here for you! For descriptions of events check the CLA calendar, and remember they are always FREE.
http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/edge/2014/02/24/cla-week-22414/
Events
February 24
Anarchism and the Occupy Movement. 4:00 p.m., MU Journey. Nathan Schneider – author of Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse – will discuss the origins and development of Occupy Wall Street, a social movement that remains as significant as it is misunderstood. He will explore the movement’s strategy and spirit, including its little-recognized religious dimensions, both explicit and implicit.
Why the World Needs Religious Studies. 7:00 p.m., MU Journey. What can you do with a religion degree, anyway? Nathan Schneider , a former religious studies major who now works as a journalist in New York City, will talk about why the kinds of thinking practiced in religious studies are vitally important outside academia and how religion majors can use their skills to make a living—and change the world for the better.
February 25
Climate Club-Sandwich Lunch: Environmental philosopher Allen Thompson and wildlife biologist and author Cristina Eisenberg will present a “braided lecture” addressing ethics, land-use, and wildlife in the context of a changing climate. The lecture will take place in MU 206 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. The lecture series, a collaboration between EAHI and OCCRI, is designed to spur conversations about climate change among people of different academic backgrounds.
Please join us for a research presentation by Crystal Boson, a candidate for the position of Assistant Professor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Professor Boson’s lecture, “Magical Black Women and Virtual Possession: Race, Gender, and Religious Performance in Popular Culture,” will be held in MU 213, 12:00 p.m. Using her theoretical lens of the performative crash site, Crystal Boson examines the violent intersections between images of Hoodoo, Black women’s bodies, and popular culture consumption.
Blood Avocados, Drug Cartels, and the Crisis of Democracy in Mexico. 12:00 p.m., Milam Hall 319. Professor Victor Vargas of the Universidad Latina de America in Michoacan, Mexico will discuss the political violence in Mexico between drug cartels and armed vigilante groups formed by farmers that threatens to destabilize the region.
World-renowned philosopher Graham Harman will be giving a free public lecture on the French theorist Bruno Latour at 4:00 p.m. in the Ag Sciences Hall at LaSells. Harman is Distinguished University Professor at the American University in Cairo. He is the author of many books, most recently Bells and Whistles: More Speculative Realism (2013), Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy (2012), The Quadruple Object (2011), and Quentin Meillassoux: Philosophy in the Making (2011). He is the editor of the Speculative Realism book series at Edinburgh University Press, and (with Bruno Latour) co-editor of the New Metaphysics book series at Open Humanities Press.
A Passage to India. 6:00 p.m., Milam Hall, 301. The Religious Studies Club invites one and all to a screening one of the 5-time Academy Award winning film “A Passage to India” based on the E. M. Forster 1924 novel. Admission and refreshments are free!
February 26
Oregon State Chamber Winds, directed by Dr. Christopher Chapman, will be giving a free, public concert in Albany at 7:30 p.m. in the First Christian Church, 432 SW Ferry Street. Their program includes Frank Ticheli’s “Songs of Love and Life,” featuring OSU music student, Melissa Simpson, soprano; and Malcolm Arnold’s “Water Music.” Chamber Winds will perform in Corvallis on March 4 at 7:30 p.m. with the OSU Wind Symphony and Campus Band, as the LaSells Stewart Center.
American Conversations Lecture Series Presents: Prof. Nicole von Germeten, “How to Write on Spanish American Sexuality: Changing the Focus from the Honor Code to Emotional History,” introduced and moderated by Prof. Peter Betchemann, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union Asian/Pacific Room (206). Sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, with support from the School of Writing, Literature, and Film, and the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion.
February 27
Green Village Schools and the Future of Afghanistan. 3:00 p.m., MU208 (LaRaza Room). Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti is an Afghan American who since 2001 has been living out his dream of providing quality education for children in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan where he grew up. Kharoti will talk about his work and that of Portland-based Green Village Schools, a nonprofit committed to increasing literacy in rural, underserved areas of Afghanistan.
John Frohnmayer, former chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, will speak about his life experiences and First Amendment issues at 7:00 p.m in the Agriculture Production Room at the LaSells Stewart Center. The lecture, “Second Thoughts of a First Amendment Radical: Slathering Politics, Religion, Philosophy and Art on Burned American Toast,” is free and open to the public.
February 28
Music à la Carte: Pianist Sunghee Kim will perform in recital at 12:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union Lounge. Admission is free.
I Have Had Singing: The 2014 Orange & Black Vocal Scholarship Concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church, 1165 N Monroe St. This annual concert will feature performances by the Bella Voce, Chamber Choir, Glee, and the OSU Meistersingers, with pre-concert entertainment by the a cappella groups Outspoken, Divine, and Powerchord. Professor Emeritus Ron Jeffers will be honored for his contributions to music education in Oregon. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Advance tickets are available at www.tickettomato.com/event.php?event_id=2240. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from this concert benefit music scholarships for singers.
Upcoming Events
March 2: Corvallis-OSU Symphony Concert: The 3:00 p.m. program at LaSells Stewart Center includes Strauss’ “Sinfonia Domestica” and Vaughan Williams’ Tuba Concerto, featuring OSU tuba instructor JáTtik Clark. Tickets are $18-$30 in advance, $20-$32 at the door. For ticket locations or to purchase advance tickets online go to: http://www.cosusymphony.org/.
March 3: The Oregon State University Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Christopher Chapman, will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the LaSells Stewart Center. The concert, titled “Frozen Cathedrals,” will feature guest conductor, Frank Tracz, of Kansas State University. Admission is free to OSU staff, faculty, and students with ID. K-12 youth are also admitted for free. General admission tickets are $10 at the door. OSU Bands participates in Corvallis Arts for All, offering up to two, $5 tickets for those in the SNAP program with an Oregon Trail Card.
The School of Public Policy brownbag series continues Friday, Mar. 7, when Dr. Rorie Solberg (Political Science) will present “Media Coverage of the Supreme Court.” The brownbag will run from noon-1:00 in Fairbanks 304. The SPP brownbag is open to all members of the OSU community.
News
Oregon State Glee choir director James Davidson presented “Change the World: Sing” at TEDxSalem in November. Davidson’s talk was just recently posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU_AB4uyHxc In addition to the talk seen in the video, the Glee choir joined Davidson on stage, to perform two pieces, U2′s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” both arranged by Deke Sharon. In addition to conducting the OSU Glee choir, Davidson the choir director at First United Methodist Church in Corvallis and is the student activities chair for the Northwest division of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA.)
Ryan Biesack, percussion instructor and director of the OSU Jazz Ensemble, is a member of Douglas Detrick’s AnyWhen Ensemble. The group will be artists-in-residence at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York from March 6 – 8, giving workshops, private lessons and a concert, partly in support of their recently recorded album on Parma records, set for release in March. For more information:
http://parmarecordings.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-parma-artist-douglas-detricks.html
http://douglasdetrick.com/anywhen/
http://aupac.adelphi.edu/newsevent/new-music-at-adelphi-ix-anywhen-ensemble/
Awards and Honors
At the 2014 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Ken Albala’s latest book, Grow Food, Cook Food, Share Food: Perspectives on Eating from the Past and a Preliminary Agenda for the Future, recently published by OSU Press, won in the category of Culinary History. The book of course is based on the lectures Ken delivered as the Horning Visiting Scholar in the fall of 2011. See http://oregonstate.edu/cla/shpr/horning-visiting-scholar-program for details of Albala’s lectures @ OSU.
Current Research, Publications and Creative Activity
Jacob Darwin Hamblin will be presenting “A Glaring Defect in the System”: Nuclear Safeguards, the Developing World, and the Invisibility of Technology” on March 2nd at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The conference, entitled The Making of a Nuclear Order: Negotiating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is sponsored by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, in association with the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP).
SPS Faculty member Dr. Frank Bernieri, Presented the following research at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX. Several of his collaborators are undergraduate and graduate psychology students.
- Vicaria, I. M., Bernieri, F. J., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (February, 2014). Perceptions of Rapport across the Life Span: Gaze Patterns and Judgment Accuracy.
- Devens, S. S., SPS Undergraduate * Krieger, K. L., Brown, J. A., & Bernieri, F. J. (February, 2014). Facial Width-to-Height Ratio Predicts Testosterone Related Traits and Behaviors.
- Raymond, A., Bernieri, F. J., & Brown, J. A. (February, 2014). Changes in Emotional Intelligence: A Test-Retest of the MSCEIT. Raymond is a MAIS student majoring in psychology.
- Sim, S. Y., Brown, J. A., & Bernieri, F. J. (February, 2014). Intelligence Judgments are Misleading at First but Improve over Time.
- Krieger, K. L., Brown, J. A., & Bernieri, F. J. (February, 2014). You Can Trust a Pretty Face: Perceived Physical Attractiveness and the Use of Credibility Linguistic Markers.
